Messaging has become a popular method of communication among a wide range of user segments. One reason for this popularity is the ability of messaging to fit nicely between phone calls and e-mail. More particularly, messaging communications are not as intrusive as phone calls and are not as asynchronous as e-mail. Users may employ messaging applications (such as instant messaging (IM) applications and mobile messaging applications) to “chat”.
While chatting, a user may want to convey information to someone that is better displayed graphically than in a text-based message. For example, a user may wish to send someone a list of movie times for all theaters in a particular area. As a further example, a user may wish to send someone flight tracking information so the recipient may determine when the flight will land. In such cases, it would be desirable to send rich data (e.g., text and media) that a recipient could render and consume in a convenient way. Thus, with reference to the above examples, such rich data could make viewing movie listings, buying movie tickets, and/or obtaining updates about a flight's status more convenient.
Current techniques for sending rich data may involve, for example, sending a text message containing a uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies the rich data. Upon receipt of this message, the user can use the URL to access the resource (e.g., a web page) through a browser application and refresh the resource to get updates.
However, if a URL is sent in a text message, the user has to leave the context of the conversation to access the rich data in a different application, such as a browser.
Additionally, current messaging applications do not provide techniques for consolidating messages and media into a chat context after a chat has occurred. For example, it is logistically impractical for all participants in a chat to get into a room and look at one computer together.